http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/garden/27garden.html?emc=eta1

EARTH DAY …. EARTH DAY

2010

I found out about Lisa Caprioglio at last year’s green Festival at the Convention Center.

She knows so much more than me about native plants that I saw it necessary to give her some “web space” to encourage all of us to plant more native plants…

The one thing I always remember when thinking about native plants: What was once native may not be native anymore because our environment has changed. But Lisa has got a few words to help us out.

Lisa Caprioglio, guest blogger

Celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 2010.  Go out in your yard and dig up a plant!  Okay, not just any plant.  To be helpful, it has to be an invasive vine, flower, shrub, or tree.

Invasive species are “alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.”  (Presidential executive order 13112, 2/3/99)

You could put on your gloves and tear out your Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). A thorny, dense shrub with attractive green or red leaves all season long, Japanese barberry is easy to grow in a variety of conditions and pests leave it alone.

“But,” you say, “how can this be a weed?  It’s pretty.  Someone bought it and planted it on purpose.  I see this plant all over the city.”  A weed is people’s definition of a plant in a place they don’t want it.  An invasive is nature’s definition of an exotic plant that out-competes native plants and destroys the ecological balance.

In its original ecosystem Japanese barberry has predators, diseases, and climate that keep it in balance with the other plants.  Removed from those checks and balances in the mid-Atlantic region, Japanese barberry becomes invasive.  Birds eat the berries and carry the seeds far from your garden.

Instead, consider a shrub that is native to the mid-Atlantic.  Maple-leaved arrowwood (Viburnum acerifolum) grows 3-6 feet tall, has white flowers in June, berries in the fall, and autumn shades of red.  It tolerates a variety of light conditions.  Or, if you want a thorny shrub and have a sunny spot, try Pasture rose, Rosa carolina.

As an added incentive to do the right thing, bring your dead barberry–roots and all—to Old City Green from April 21st to April 25 and receive a 15% discount on a native replacement shrub.

Remove an invasive plant  to help save your local environment.

When you’re helping to save your local environment, you’re helping to save the planet.

————-

Lisa Caprioglio is the Owner and Garden Designer for Aldertree Garden.

Aldertree Garden specializes in native plant design, installation, and maintenance in the Washington, DC metro area.

Earth Day!    Earth Day!

Earth Day!

40th Anniversary

April 22nd

“We are as it were, sitting here and standing here,the organs of consciousness of the very earth itself-that’s what we’ve come from, as a flower comes from a stem”.
Joseph Campbell

“In my moments of rest I dream of things to come.  Spring bulbs and blooming branches.  For now I am content with the naked trees and I revel in my amorous thoughts toward their gnarled branches.  Spring is coming and winter is a blessing.”

-FLA, January 22nd, 2010

“January is the quietest month in the garden.  …  But just because it looks quiet doesn’t mean that nothing
is happening.  The soil, open to the sky, absorbs the pure rainfall while microorganisms convert tilled-under
fodder into usable nutrients for the next crop of plants.  The feasting earthworms tunnel along, aerating
the soil and preparing it to welcome the seeds and bare roots to come.”
-  Rosalie Muller Wright

“There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter.
One is the January thaw.  The other is the seed catalogues.”
-   Hal Borland

A Winter Wonderland

All was quiet across the glistening blankets of snow.  The mighty fraser and balsam trees stood tall,  standing watch across Old City green, patiently waiting for a warm home to spend the holidays.

As the handsome clerk opened the green gates, and the sweet smell of cider crept through  the Shaw neighborhood, a bird began her afternoon song.  But this time  her song was different…

“Today, December 24th, all tree’s and wreaths 50% off!” the bird proclaimed with a happy chirp.

People from all over the neighborhood followed the beautiful bird’s call, and were in a joyful spirit at the sight of fresh trees and wreaths, standing tall in an OCg winter wonderland…They danced home carrying their goods just in time for the holiday..The trees were happy too!

Be strong!
Be happy!
Have a wonderful and merry, Holiday!
- Frank and the OCg team

Greetings plant enthusiasts,

I sat down to contemplate a new blog post for today, but as soon as I began, the words were taken right out of my mouth. So to speak.

Take a look: www.renewshaw.com

Stay dry and have a warm weekend!
Below we’ve added a poem for your thoughts.
- Frank & the OCg Team

A Poison Tree

By William Blake

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole.
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

In the old days they dreamed of rivers of HONEY and streets of GOLD.

Today, I dream of rivers flowing with clean water and fish swimming in
flooded fields, jumping up to get caught.
Today, I dream of streets with no guns, needles, empty bottles and such.
I dream of tree boxes filled with flowers and tended to by neighbors and
folks helping each other get on in this world.

Paradise in yesteryear was a place in the clouds that excluded.
For me, today, paradise is a place where nature is tended to and ALL people
have an intention to help one another.

In a time not too long ago, if one followed the beat of a different drummer,
there was great risk of loss.
Today, I want the drummers to step up their music.
DRUM LOUD so folks can here the intricacies of rhythms and beats playing
together…In sync and sometimes not…

Just yesterday I failed…I may have lost a friend.
Today, I start again. My true friends mirror compassion. They offer love.
This teaches me to move through paradise in renewal.

Today, paradise is HERE,NOW….A place to revisit again and again..

This day, this morning, go out..begin tending to paradise…
Some of us have been standing outside the gate for too long now.
Today is a day to let dreams flood in….
Reach your hand out and catch one.
Or, get down on your knees and tend to the earth and let nature takes its
course…..Paradise will move through you in ways unimagined.

…We love all of them!

Some such as thyme are fragrant and edible. Tell us what kind of garden you
have and we’ll be happy to suggest a few for you. All of them are hardy and
tough, and they really can get walked all over and still bounce back. These
plants roll with the punches the way we’re all trying to these days.

Do you ever feel like the universe is bumping up against you so hard that
all you can do is roll with the punches??

My first thought is “FIGHT CLUB!”
Yes, Fight Club is right behind my house. I can go sit on my back porch and
watch teenagers and adults alike ride their skateboards up, down, back and forth on these tunnel wave kind of things…Yes, I am showing my age here….(Yes, one day I was informed of their real name: Half Pipes.) Think 2 big half pipes and a smaller one with 6-12 people on each one skating up, down, back and forth for 3-4 hours, till 11:00 pm sometimes!!

The delightful thing is that all of those folks know how to fall…they really know how to roll with the punches. It is basic actor training…Go limp….relax when you fall, and try to fall on some cushion…
Sometimes, like a cat, these acrobats even spin in the air, somersault and
BAM!- they’re standing straight up while their skateboards fly off into the back of my fence.

I get to witness this combination of athletic prowess and childlike focus!
I am in awe…This 52 year old is old enough to know:”Don’t’ try this at
home”…
However, I do get to try my own dance with the universe in starting up a
business in the middle of this fearful economy…

OLD CITY green….As strong as a sapling, as athletic as an avid
skateboarder and with lots of experience in falling and getting back up again…..

We’ve got some HARDY native perennials in…they’ll be sure to roll with
the punches,  as I am sure you do!

Come  on by and say hi!!!

Getting ready to plant?
Consider OLD CITY green..
We’ve got Organic Compost…
After you have trimmed your perennials from the winter blahs, douse them
with some compost to nourish them for their renewal.

We’ve got Topsoil you can bag yourself.
Shredded Pine Bark mulch for that fresh, fecund look. Or, Hardwood Mulch for
that deep, dark, forest floor feel..

We have an abundance of native perennial plants for the sun or shade.
Bee Balm, Cat Mint, Hyssop, Hellebores, Creeping Phlox..they are all ready
for you to take them home.

Right now we’ve got lots of blooming shrubs about ready to burst with color.
Forsythia, Azaleas, Camellias and many more…They’ve got your name on
them!!

Buy any plants from us, return the pots and you can enter a raffle to win a flat of pansies on April 11th….Besides, the returns get reused by a local
farmer for seedlings we’ll be selling later in the spring…What goes around
comes around!

OLD CITY green: Plants, People and the Planet!!

Old City Green was recently featured on the March 8th episode of Go Green Sangha Radio. Click here to listen to the show: